You're So Sober
by LuvGinnyandDraco
Summary: Life and the things it threw at him had prepared Ponyboy Curtis for pretty much anything that came his way. But there's one thing that nothing he'd gone through before could possibly prepare him for. Girls.
1. As She Leaves

Disclaimer: It's pretty much just...I own absolutely nothing you may actually recognize. I own Lauren and Emily and a few other characters that will be mentioned later in the story. And that's just about it.

A/N: Ponyboy may seem a little out of character at some points in this story, but I only wrote it to show how I think he may have dealt with girls. I already have the first three and a half chapters written, and if I get enough reviews, I'll post chapter two and maybe three tomorrow. There will be more characters in the future, but for now it's only Emily and Lauren, so I'll describe what they look like. This story will begin on the first day of school at lunch.

Also, the whole killing Bob thing did happen, but there was no church fire. Pony still has blonde hair, but it's set in a more modern time, so he combs in down toward his eyes instead of keeping it combed back. And Johnny grew his hair back to the way it was before.

**Lauren Delluco:**

Long, straight dirty blonde hair, dark green eyes, 5'3, skinny.

**Emily Gonley:**

Medium length curly brown hair with bangs, hazel eyes, 5'1, a bit skinnier than Lauren.

"**You're So Sober" Chapter 1: "As She Leaves"**

"Just look at her," Johnny said, his eyes never leaving the girl. "She's beautiful, man." I could tell Emily Gonley knew Johnny was staring at her, but, hell, she didn't seem to mind it one bit. I took a puff of my cigarette and smiled at Johnny.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go on and talk to her." I said. He brushed his fingertips over his scar softly and shook his head.

"Naw, man. A good looking middle lass girl like her would never go for a greaser like me." He replied sadly. I shrugged, frowning at my best friend, before walking toward the trash can to throw away my half-eaten lunch. Greasers never ate in the cafeteria. Usually, me, Johnny, and Two-bit go to the DX for lunch. But today it was just me and Johnny, and we ate outside. On my way back to the table, I bumped into someone.

"Watch it!" the girl shouted before storming off. And as I turned around to watch her walk away, I saw her long dark blonde hair blowing in the wind.

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You know how they always say that high school is supposed to be the best years of your life? Well, they're wrong, whoever they may be. Your high school years are the most confusing. You have to figure out everything about yourself in those four years. What you want to be, your sexual orientation, whether or not you want a commitment, it goes on. But me, I'm only a freshman, and I've got pretty much everything figured out. I think it's 'cause I spend so much time daydreaming. There's just one thing I'm still confused about. Girls. Lately, I'm finding that all of my friends are either in a relationship or looking to be. Hell, even Darry's got a girl he plans on sticking with. And Johnny, he's always been scared of girls. But now, every day he gets closer to actually talking to Emily Gonley.

"Alright, class," my science teacher says, stepping to the front. "As it is the first day of school, I'm going to start off by assigning lab partners for the year." It's sixth period, and I'm in an advanced Biology class. A mix between sophomores and freshman. Johnny's in my class. He's real good at science. Mrs. Brooks went on, pairing people off. She finally got to Johnny.

"Johnathan Cade and, let's see, Emily Gonley." And I saw Johnny's usually sad, dark eyes lit up completely when Emily turned and smiled at him warmly.

"And, Ponyboy Curtis and Lauren Delluco." Lauren was the girl I'd bumped into earlier. I could tell already that this was going to be a long year.

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The next day in class, I sat at a lab table with Johnny, Emily and Lauren. Mrs. Brooks went around hurriedly, making a seating chart. She let us sit where we wanted but we had to stay there the entire year.

"Since we're going to be sitting together, why don't we do something later? We could go to the Nightly Double and make it a double date." Emily said, glancing at Johnny, who was blushing like crazy.

"Kay." Was all he managed to say.

"I guess." I knew if I went too it would really help Johnny out. He wouldn't be so shy.

"You sure you really wanna be seen with a bunch of greasers?" Lauren asked. I glared at her. She annoyed me already.

"It doesn't really matter to me who I'm seen with." Emily replied. I saw Johnny smile slightly.

"Alright, I'll go," Lauren said. Then she nudged me lightly. "But you gotta be my date. I think princess here has got a bit of a crush on Cade." They both blushed at that.

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At 6:30, we all snuck into the Nightly Double. I could tell Emily was uneasy about it, but she didn't complain. We took our seats as the movie started. Johnny and Emily kept looking at each other and then looking away, both of them blushing. 10 minutes into the movie, Lauren got up and pulled me up by the arm.

"Come on, Horseguy. Let's go get some refreshments." She said.

" It's Ponyboy."

"Whatever, " she pulled me to the concession stand. "You know, you're actually kinda cute. That blonde hair really suits you."

"Very funny." I reached up and played with a strand of my bleached blonde hair. I really hated it sometimes.

"For once in my life," she brought a hand up to my cheek, " I wasn't kidding." And that's when she did the strangest thing. She kissed me. Right there in the concession stand line. Tongue and everything. My first real kiss with a girl I almost, _almost_ hated.

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When we got back, Emily and Johnny were flirting like crazy. I sat back down and tried to pay attention to the movie. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Johnny take Emily's hand and lace their fingers.

"Hey, Ponykid." Lauren whispered. I didn't even bother looking at her.

"It's Ponyboy." I muttered, staring intently at the screen.

"Sorry." I looked at her, shocked that she'd apologized. I shook my head and took a sip of my drink.

"What did you want?" I asked, she stared at me thoughtfully before tilting her head to the side.

"Wanna make out?"

"Uhhh..." she didn't give me a chance to answer. She just scooted closer and kissed me again. It wasn't until I started kissing back that I realized I liked it.

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Lauren and I stood at the end of Emily's driveway, watching on in amusement as Johnny awkwardly pecked her on the cheek. Just as he was walking away, Emily grabbed his arm and got on her tip-toes, kissing him full on the lips.

"Cute, huh?" Lauren commented, flicking the ashes away from her cigarette.

"Yeah." I replied softly as Johnny came back over to us, blushing furiously and grinning widely. The three of us started the walk back to our neighborhood. It was about a 20 minute walk, so it gave me some time to think. This whole Lauren thing was the most confusing thing I'd ever gone through. She annoyed the hell out of me, but I sure liked kissing her. And obviously, she liked killing me too. I mean, damn, she did it enough. Johnny headed off to his house and I walked Lauren to her gate, which was right next door to Johnny's house. I leaned in and kissed her without realizing it. But she didn't seem to mind, 'cause she kissed back right away. She pulled away and opened her gate.

"Night, Ponyboy." she said, beginning the walk to her door.

"It's..." I started to correct her, but then I realized she'd gotten my name right for once. I shrugged it off and headed across the street to my house.

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A/N: Sorry it was so short. It looked a lot longer on paper. The first couple of chapters will be mainly focused on Ponyboy and Lauren and a little bit of Johnny and Emily. Everyone else will be in the story by the third or fourth chapter.


	2. The Words I Mumbled

Disclaimer: It's pretty much just . . . I own absolutely nothing you may actually recognize. I own Lauren and Emily and a few other characters that will be mentioned later in the story. And that's just about it.

A/N: I understand that Lauren and Pony may be moving a bit fast, but that's the whole point of the story. You'll get it eventually. I already have six chapters written, so I can't exactly change it without rewriting the whole story.

"**You're So Sober"**

Chapter 2: "The Words I Mumbled"

"Rise and shine, Ponyboy." I opened one eye to find Johnny standing over me, shaking me slightly.

"It's Saturday, Johnny, Time for sleep." I mumbled tiredly, yawning. I closed my eyes again, snuggling deeper into my blankets.

"C'mon, man. I told Emily me, you and Lauren would met her at the pack." He looked at me pleadingly with those big, black puppy dog eyes. I sighed and allowed him to pull me up. I managed to get ready quickly before he pulled me out the door Lauren was on her porch smoking a cigarette when we arrived at her house.

"Hey, loverboy, Ponydude." I didn't even bother to correct her this time. I was too busy thinking about how badly I wanted to kiss her.

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The sound of Emily's soft giggles filled the air as Johnny pushed her higher on the swing. Me and Lauren sat on the monkey bars, sharing a cigarette.

"I'd love to say, do you love me, but, I'm as humble as a bumble bee," Lauren sang softly looking down at her feet and taking a drag. She had a pretty good voice. "I've always wanted that." She said suddenly, nodding towards Johnny and Emily.

"What?" I asked, accepting the cigarette and taking a drag.

"Someone to love. Hell, maybe even love me back. Just to feel like you have a purpose, you know?" She sighed and shook her head, letting out a short, bitter laugh. "But greaser girls, they never really get that. They're just easy sex. Maybe even just someone to smack around. Take your anger out on," I stayed silent. I'd never really thought of it that way. But deep down, I knew she was somewhat right. Most greaser girls didn't get treated right. Maybe that's why they acted the way they did. Why they wore revealing clothes and swore too much and slept around. Because most guys treated them like trash. She let out another bitter laugh. "Maybe that's why the really sweet guys like you go for classy, smart, prude soc's like Cherry Valance." My head shot up and I had to think for a moment before replying.

"Sometime's guys want girls who can actually respect themselves." I said slowly. She glared at me and put the cigarette out.

"Yeah? Well, you know something, Ponyboy?" And I swear, I saw a single tear roll down her cheek. "It's kind of hard to respect yourself when noone else does."

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I walked into school with Johnny on Monday, both of us in completely different moods. He was so happy he was practically glowing and I was miserable and tired, not to mention extremely confused. After I got home from the park, I'd spent the entire weekend thinking about what Lauren had said. She was right. Most greaser girls didn't get the chance to experience love. Their boyfriends were either in jail, or smacking them around, or off two-timing them with some other greasy girl just like them. But, what if I could love Lauren? I sure as hell liked kissing her.

"I dunno, man." Johnny's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "You think I should just as her to be my girlfriend?" I smiled at him. I hadn't seen Johnny this happy in a long time. He laughed and smiles more, and he wasn't as shy or nervous.

"Yeah. You should." I replied. Emily saying yes to Johnny was the only thing I felt sure about right now.

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Anyone who knew of Lauren Delluco would say that she had no morals. That she'd been around the block more than a few times, or that she was just some greasy, trashy slut. But I just couldn't see Lauren that way. Not after what she'd shared with me, and not after seeing her cry. Even if it was just one tear. You may think I'm crazy, but I'd convinced myself that if I got to know the side of her that I've been seeing the past four days, I could fall in love with Lauren Delluco. The school slut. The cold, mean greaser who hated the world. And most importantly, the girl I saw on Saturday, who wanted more than anything in the world, to just be loved. And that's why I was standing on her front porch, knocking on her door. Her mother finally answered.

"I remember you," She smiled slightly. "You're the boy who took Lauren out on Friday." I nodded.

"Hi, Mrs. Delluco. Is Lauren home?" I asked politely. Hey, if I was going to love her daughter endlessly and unconditionally, I had to make a good impression, right?

"Yes, she is. Come on in. I'll go get her." I stepped inside and closed the door behind me as she disappeared up the stairs. A few minutes later, Lauren came downstairs, pulling on a sweater.

"My mom's all excited that I finally got a guy to come back after the first date." She said, smirking at me. "Which means, we're not staying here, so let's go."

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We walked in silence for a few minutes. I almost forgot what I'd wanted to say. I was too busy staring at her. Her normally perfectly straight hair fell in soft waves past her shoulders. She wore no make-up and sweat pants. She looked so different, but she was beautiful.

"So, Pony, What brought you to my house?" I was about to tell her everything I'd plan to say. But now, I realized how stupid it would sound. I can't just tell her I randomly decided to love her. So, I didn't the only thing I could think of. I kissed her. Big mistake. She pulled away.

"Sorry kid," She said. "It's nothing personal. I just don't give out seconds. Friday night was a one time thing."

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I hated myself two hours after I kissed her. Because I realized that we decided to be friends. And because we were friends, we kept walking, And because we kept walking, we kept talking. And while we talked, I was slowly falling in love with Lauren. The girl who wanted to be loved, yet just wouldn't allow it. The girl who would never be more than a friend. Damn irony. Before I could finish my silent rant, we got to Lauren's house. And she did the most unpredictable thing ever. She got on her tip-toes and kissed me.

"I thought you didn't..." But she cut me off.

"Maybe I just like you." She replied, walking away.

"I like you, too." I mumbled. But she didn't hear me.

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A/N: It's a bit longer than the last one. I'll post chapter 3 as soon as I get some reviews.


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